The Just Judge (The Bible’s Answer for Justice, Part 3)
By Ben Quine
**This article is part of a series helping us navigate this issue of justice in our world from a Biblical perspective. To read all of Ben’s articles on this subject - click on his name above by the date published and it will sort all of this articles in one place.
Imagine you are standing in court before the judge. The evidence has been presented, and you have been found guilty of committing a great crime. Your sentence is certainly coming, and it will be terrible: you will be faced with a fine so large you will never be able to pay it off, even if you work for the rest of your life. It will mean isolation, suffering, and death. The judge likes you and feels sorry for you, but what can he do about it? Would it be ok for him to just cancel the charges? The person you have wronged is due a payment, and it wouldn’t be fair to them, if they weren’t paid. But even deeper than that, it would not be justice to just let you go unpunished. What can be done?
In every way, our God is like that judge. In fact, He is the real judge for us all. When Abraham was talking with God about Sodom and Gomorrah, he even addressed God by that title: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Genesis 18:25). What is God’s relationship to justice? Take a minute and consider God’s character:
The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he. (Deuteronomy 32:4)
The living God is perfect. Part of that perfection culminates in all of His ways being justice. This is fantastic news, since every other “god” in history is prone to injustice! If you’ve ever studied Ancient Greek mythology, think about how those false “gods” would cheat, lie, and steal from humans and each other in order to get what they wanted. Praise God that He is not like that! He is a perfect judge who always enacts justice.
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
But not only does God act with perfect justice, He requires justice from His children. This is not surprising, since God’s character is the basis for all morality. Is perfect justice what we experience in our daily lives? Is this kind of justice standard across the world? Why not?
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:15-17)
God promised terrible consequences for Adam and Eve if they disobeyed.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate… And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden… To the woman [God] said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said… “cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:6, 8, 16-19)
Adam and Eve disobeyed God, ate the fruit, and then suffered the immediate spiritual death and eventual physical death that God had promised. Just look at how God describes humanity after their disobedience:
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Isaiah 64:6)
So here we are, all of humanity, standing before the Judge of all the earth, not in an illustration, but in real life: guilty, unclean, sinful. Sentenced to death.
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned (Romans 5:12)
Death has come to all humanity because after Adam and Eve, all have been born already sinful in nature, spiritually dead. Because we are all born sinners, all have sinned and done evil, all have hurt their neighbors, and all deserve God’s just wrath and eternal death – that is, eternal separation from God, the source of all life.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26)
How can God remain just while forgiving our sin? How can a just judge also show mercy? Jesus Christ achieved justice by paying our full penalty of death, to satisfy God’s wrath and punishment on sin. This is called PROPITIATION, and it is one of the most important words in the entire Bible. Our Judge paid the very penalty that we owed! Praise God for this incredibly good news!!
If Jesus had lived only as a good teacher and healer, if God had simply said to us, “I forgive you, don’t worry about it,” without Christ paying our debt for sin, then God would have been unjust. But God satisfied His own standard of justice, requiring and fulfilling the payment necessary for Him to offer us forgiveness: this is why Christ had to die. It’s whyHe paid a penalty equal to our debt. Christ was the only man since Adam born spiritually alive, so He was the only one capable of paying the sentence of death that we owed. And by His death, He allowed God to justify His people and also retain His own justice.
But this was not the end of the story…
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it… And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done… And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15)
Justice will ultimately be accomplished in Heaven. The books will be opened and they will be balanced. Jesus Himself will be the judge (John 5:22, Acts 17:31), and payment for sin will have to be made by each person who did not accept God’s free gift of salvation in Christ (“judged according to what they had done”). God’s justice will then be complete.
If you personally decide that you wish to be judged according to your own efforts and goodness, you should know that you will fail the test and be condemned — it is impossible for a human to be righteous enough to overcome their debt of sin. Don’t go that way! Instead, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Redeemer. Confess your sins and repent of them (repent means to “turn around,” to change your direction and actions); accept that Christ came to pay your penalty by His death on the cross, and that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9-10). Then God will credit Christ’s righteousness to your account (2 Corinthians 5:21), you will become a forgiven child of God (John 1:12), and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit – God’s own presence and righteousness living in you! (Ephesians 1:13-14, Galatians 5:16-25)
This salvation offered to us by the Judge of all the earth is not what we deserve (justice!), it is by grace, which someone has illustrated as G.R.A.C.E. = “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.” Christians receive the eternal life that we do not deserve, while God remains just, because our penalty has been fully paid. Praise God for His grace!
Now as God’s forgiven children who have been bought back with the precious blood of Jesus, we can go out in love to help bring God’s justice and righteousness to our everyday lives and to our culture (Micah 6:8). What should that look like? We’ll talk about that in the next few articles, beginning with God’s principles for civil government.
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ABOUT BEN
Connect with him at Cornerstone Curriculum
Ben Quine, the second son of David and Shirley Quine, was blessed to grow up with a Charlotte Mason/Dr. Schaeffer/Biblical Worldview education -- a tremendous gift! Through the years, Ben has served as a Cornerstone consultant, assistant, and co-author. He has written several Bible studies for the Answers for Difficult Days series, which equips churches to address the issues our culture is wrestling with today, from the foundation of Scripture. Ben is also the editor of The Worldview Library, editions of classical literature with student helps that afford the reader a deeper understanding of the concepts presented in each work.
Trained as a classical pianist and instructor, Ben is committed to inspiring his students with the love of great music and equipping them with the tools to perform at the highest level. This training has resulted in his students' successful performances from local festivals and competitions to Carnegie Hall.
Ben loves Shakespeare, Dickens, photography, listening to recordings of "the great pianists", running, biking, and spending time with his wife Julie and their three sons.